


Water and Stone

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [17]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:18:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heart-sick as well as home-sick, and after a few months of remaining in the cold, pale stone tomb of Minas Tirith, too weary of the rest of Gondor to want to be anywhere other than home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water and Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Eärdor, from youth to returning home after the War of the Ring  
> Prompt: Dock  
> Alternate Universe: Gaearon Rhûnen/Flame of Durin

Eärdor practically grew up on the docks of Pelargir, the bastard son of a whore and a sailor, with hopes for something more. When he'd seen a chance to do something more than his father, something that wouldn't leave him with aching joints and a face weathered before its time, he snatched at it.

Being in the guard wasn't any less dangerous than being a sailor - he'd seen as many soldiers without limbs as sailors, watching his mother ply her trade because he had nowhere to sleep where he could avoid it - but it's something that takes him away from the sea and the city he doesn't like. It lets him see land, broad swathes, rather than dirty streets and the dark flatness of the river-water.

He also sees death, battle, and desolation. It sparks some little bit of homesickness, but not enough for him to follow the money he sends his mother back to Pelargir. Not until after the War is over, and he's a captain whose lost more men than he likes to think about. Heart-sick as well as home-sick, and after a few months of remaining in the cold, pale stone tomb of Minas Tirith - and how can it be anything other than a tomb, with people who do not know how to live? - too weary of the rest of Gondor to want to be anywhere other than home.

The Steward is kind enough to arrange his transfer back to Pelargir, as the captain of the city guard there is retiring, and who would be better than a native to handle the port city? Eärdor doesn't know that it would be best in his hands, but he doesn't voice that, grateful to be returning to the warmth and vibrancy of the south, where people clamor and throng, and no one knows what privacy is. Where the air smells of river-water, cooking oil, and spices, and the city is built of river-stone and wood, not marble and iron.

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't planned Eärdor's early life to be working-class, nor for his mother to be a protitute, but when I started on this prompt, that was the direction the muse dragged the story, so I went with it. He's a sort of rags-to-respectability story, though certainly not to riches. Even being the captain of the guard in a city like Pelargir doesn't lead to getting rich, unless the captain is a corrupt sort who takes bribes - and Eärdor is very much not that sort.


End file.
